Kilo Lingo

(zhèng cháng) - normal, regular, ordinary in Mandarin

zhèngcháng

Traditional: 正常

Line drawing of 正常
Coloured illustration of 正常
HSK 4
#758 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

normal, regular, ordinary

Word origin

正常 (zhèngcháng) 'normal' joins 正 (zhèng, 'correct, regular') and 常 (cháng, 'constant, usual'). 常 is a phono-semantic compound with the 巾 (jīn, 'cloth') radical and 尚 (shàng) as phonetic, originally a long garment and hence 'lasting, usual'.

Origin
compound
Root
正 (zhèng, 'correct') + 常 (cháng, 巾 cloth + 尚 phonetic, 'usual')

Stroke order

Stroke order for 正

Stroke order for 常

Examples

This is quite normal.

Everything is normal today.

Everything is perfectly normal.

His heartbeat is normal.

This is a normal phenomenon.

正常 (zhèng cháng) means normal, regular, ordinary. It is used as an adjective in everyday Mandarin speech.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Mandarin · Free printables

正常: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "正常" (normal, regular, ordinary): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 16.